


When tomorrow comes

by old fics (Lothiriel84)



Series: My first headcanon [9]
Category: The Mentalist
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-04
Updated: 2012-09-04
Packaged: 2017-11-13 13:22:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/503964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lothiriel84/pseuds/old%20fics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Layers. Most of people have layers, of course. However, it's difficult to recognize your own layers. Not to mention someone else's. Especially if they are so many... That's the case of Patrick Jane.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When tomorrow comes

_Last night while you were_

_Lying in my arms_

_And I was wondering where you were_

_You know you looked just like a baby_

_Fast asleep in this dangerous world..._

 

Layers. Most of people have layers, of course. First of all, there is your natural disposition – the one you are born with. That is the layer people usually don't show, because it's buried deep inside, far beneath many others. Masks you choose to wear. Lies you wrap yourself into. Scars and burns that life has left you. Feelings you get entangled with.

Everything that has ever happened to you. People you meet by chance. Friends. Relations. You could find a trace of each and every one. Hidden somewhere inside you.

However, it's difficult to recognize your own layers. Not to mention someone else's.

Especially if they are so many…

Ordinarily, this is a sign that life hasn't been particularly fair with the person in question.

That's the case of Patrick Jane.

Over the past eight years, she has come to understand at least part of the riddle he represents.

At first, she could only see his outermost layer. The one he always chooses to show. His careless, childish, often rash behavior. His love for teasing, bantering, playing pranks. His complete disregard for rules, convention – sometimes even for other people's feelings.

Then there is another layer. The one he is determined to hide. Grief, guilt, self-loathing… which make a sharp contrast with his usual pride and smugness. He hates himself for what he has done to his family. He'll never stop feeling guilty about that.

It's because of this that he regrets his past as a conman. Another layer. Well, he still manipulates people from time to time. Maybe _from time to time_ is a bit of an understatement. He could tell anyone any lie he chooses to, unblushing and unblinking. Yet he usually does it in order to solve cases. In order to help other people – in his own way, of course. His intentions are good, anyway. She's content to know that.

Again, it's because of that tragedy that he desperately sought revenge. A twisted way to gain redemption for his sins. Red John. Another layer. Anger, thirst for revenge… a kind of single-mindedness that really scared her. Even if she kept the fact well hidden. Anyway, this layer is finally gone at last. Jane is free now.

Free to live his life again. To be that kind, loving man he had been once – with his late wife and child. That's his innermost, most precious layer. The one that had seemed to die eight years ago. It didn't. Like smoldering embers under the ashes, it lied in wait. Till someone would come to rekindle the fire.

That _someone_ being her and her team. His friends. His new family.

She smiles as she looks at him in his sleep. Well, she actually _is_ his family now.

And she has just discovered a most unexpected thing. When he is asleep he has no layers. He just looks like a child, safe and completely relaxed.

He knows that – from now on – she'll be there for him. He won't be afraid of tomorrow anymore.


End file.
